My Favourite Manson Girl by Alison Umminger (Review)

I received this free from the publishers via NetGalley for review purposes

Anna feels like everything is going wrong with her life. So instead of stay and face her problem, she steals a credit card and books a flight to LA to stay with her sister, an actress. However, she soon discovers that LA and Hollywood isn’t the escape she had planned, and it isn’t as glamorous as it seems.

My Favourite Manson Girl, also known as American Girls was compelling enough to keep me reading, but I felt like there was something missing. I felt like the plot was relatively weak, and it is a very character driven novel which is perhaps why I felt it lacking, and it did drag slightly in the middle. I don’t feel like Anna was a distinct enough character, or had a strong enough voice. However, she was an interesting character, and she did have some good development.

My Favourite Manson Girl shows the dark side of Hollywood, and it shows the dark side of girls as well, and how someone can get dragged into something toxic easily, and shows how girls can be brought in to do something stupid or harmful for no reason. There was a decent theme of redemption and forgiveness which I also liked. There were some interesting and complex relationships discussed in this book, especially that of Anna and her sister, and her mums.

I think that the theme of the Manson Girls was an interesting concept, and an original one at that, so that was a positive.